"It's a basic public health principal," Dr. Thurston said.
"The basic public health structure here is really not as well supported as it should be.
"It is in some ways going back to very basic public health".
He then said politicians were divided but the majority of Americans agreed on basic public health and safety principles.
It was at Kikwit that the three basic public health strategies to prevent Ebola outbreaks were tested and proven.
But the bigger problem, officials agree, is a lack of basic public health infrastructure and preparedness that could thwart a terror attack or limit its effects.
Some states deem newborn screening such a basic public health service that they pay for it themselves; others, like Massachusetts, charge for it.
"Last month Britain pledged to support 700 treatment beds in Sierra Leone, but keeping basic public health services running is vital to halt the spread of the disease.
As the report itself says, "the most effective vulnerability reduction measures for health…are programmes that implement and improve basic public health [like] the provision of clean water".
Where are the penetrating questions to the presidents, prime ministers and legislators of those countries on this crisis and their continual lack of investment in basic public health?
What is needed isn't evangelizing, but huge infusions of resources to provide urgently needed essentials like medical care, food, shelter, instruction in basic public health and contraception techniques, and improved transportation and communication.
